A woman left nameless after being abandoned as a baby on a Manchester doorstep is making a final appeal to discover her true identity - after DNA tests with a woman who could have been her mother came back negative.

Karen Waterton was discovered in a cardboard box on Grafton Street shortly after 11pm on Friday, March 28, 1958.

Around five days old and weighing 5lb 8oz, when found she had been wrapped in an oilskin and warm blanket by someone who clearly wanted her to be discovered safe and well.

Karen Waterton (pictured left, and right as a child) hopes to find out her true identity 'before it's too late'

After being temporarily named Elizabeth Rylands, she spent the first four months of her life in care before being adopted into a loving home in Higher Blackley.

Now 57 and living in Wokingham, Surrey, she is making a final plea for help to reveal the circumstances around her first few days of life.

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She said: 'In a perfect world I would find my biological parents, but any information from that time would mean the world to me - who named me Elizabeth Rylands?

'Who looked after me after I was found? How did I end up in a children's home?'

She was discovered on the steps of the Royal Ancient Order of Buffaloes building in Chorlton-on-Medlock but only started to try and discover the truth about her past when her daughters Sarah and Lauren, now aged 27 and 30, were born.

And she says some clues that might help uncover her origins are a distinctive birthmark she has on her shoulder, and the fact she was born with an abscess on her spine.

She said: 'I was well cared for for five days before I was abandoned. After I was discovered, I spent around three months at the Princess Christian Children's Home in Fallowfield, and also spent six weeks at the Duchess of York Children's Hospital.

Karen Waterton, pictured as a child, was named temporarily named Elizabeth Rylands after being found

This original document describes when she was discovered on the steps of a building in Manchester

'I was discovered on the doorstep by a PC 57 from Platt Lane police station.'

Now she is urging anyone who worked with the police, children's services or within the children's home or hospital where she spent the first several months of her life in the hope that they might have even the smallest piece of information about her discovery.

She said her past influenced her decision to become a social worker in adoption services.

As a result of her appeal seven years ago, a woman came forward who believed she could be her mother. But after an anxious six-month wait, a DNA test came back negative.

'She had a baby a family member forced her to give up, and she lived near Grafton Street. We both wanted it to be a match, but sadly it wasn't the case.'

Now she says she is determined to do everything she can to try and find out what happened on that night.

She added: 'It's not about blame, it's about finding out the truth before it's too late.'

Anyone with information can email Karen at elizabethrylands58@gmail.com